Too Hot & Humid

     As Earth continues warming, more of it will become too hot and humid for humans to survive very long.  That portion now is very small - bits around the Persian Gulf and some other tropical coasts on some summer afternoons.  But it will grow.

Study Projects Millions of European Heat Deaths as World Warms 0125.rtf

How Many People Die from Extreme Temperatures, and How This Could Change 0724.rtf

Heat Is Testing the Limits of Human Survivability. Here’s How It Kills. 0724.rtf

Maps below show number of days with a wet-bulb temperature > 31°C [88°F],

for future global temperatures: 1.5, 2, 3, and 4°

This > 31°C day-night average is difficult to survive for days on end.

    Highest THI (95-100°F) is in S TX & E Baja.  THI 90-95°F in FL panhandle, SE of Yuma AZ & 40% of TX.  Some Category II (FL, some GA-AL-MS & AZ, most of TX), but no Category III (105-129°F) in the US this day.  Category III (THI 105-115°F) ocurred after noon.

These Are the Places That Could Become ‘Unlivable’ as Earth Warms 1023.rtf

Playgrounds are dangerous, even very dangerous, in the heat

Kids Getting Burned on Swings and Slides? Here’s How to Fix It. 0823.rtf

Heat Deaths Surge in Hottest US City, as AZ Governor Declares Heat Emergency 0823.rtf

Extreme Heat Will Change Us 1222.rtf - health, adaptation, inequality, the future - The story compares laborers and other people in Kuwait and Basra, Iraq.  Kuwaiti citizens (but not laborers).  Most Kuwaitis avoid going outside.  Air conditioning is a rare luxury in Basra (Garden of Eden land), where it got to 164°F on the welder's benchtop and 179°F on a tire swing on a playground.  The struggle to sweat and cool off increases risk of kidney stones and kidney disease.  The welder's body temperature rose 3°C, a dangerous fever, from the outdoor heat.  Chronic dehydration abounds in Basra.

Hotter Summer Nights Affect Everything from Death Rates to Crop Yields to Firefighting 0822.rtf

100 Million Americans Will Be in ‘Extreme Heat Belt’ by the 2050s 0822.rtf

Boiling behind Bars - Texas Prisons without Air Conditioning tgo Get a Lot Hotter 0222.rtf

The Dire Impact of Extreme Heat on Outdoor US Jobs 0821.rtf

OSHA Refuses to Step In as Workers Languish in Extreme Heat 0821.rtf

Lethal Wet Bulb Temps above 35°C in Persian Gulf, India, etc. 0721.rtf [95°F]

Too Hot to Live - Millions Worldwide Will Face Unbearable Temperatures 0621.rtf -

A MUST read: long, detailed and wide-reaching.

U.S. Soldiers Falling Ill and Dying in the Heat, as Climate Warms 0719.rtf

     Days above 95°F will roughly triple. (See Figure 1, partly excerpted above.)  This includes 75-100 such days a year for southern Illinois (Carbondale, Cairo, Vincennes, plus Decauter) and more than half of Missouri (St. Louis, Cape Girardeau, Joplin, Sedalia, Rolla, Poplar Bluff, Hannibal, etc.)  It also includes Evansville IN and sliver of Ohio between Portsmouth and Marietta and Iowa north of Hannibal.  This is almost as hot as Las Vegas.
    The Midwest in particular will experience rising temperatures, in terms of warmer winters more than unbearable summers. But by the end of the century, the average Midwesterner will likely see 22 to 77 days per year over 95°F, compared to only 3, on average, over the past 30 years. 

     There is a 5% (or more) chance that 125-150 days a year will exceed 95°F in much the same area (plus Terre Haute and Jasper IN and Effingham IL, but minus Hannibal and Sedalia MO).  See the rest of Figure 1 in the report.

     These compare to 114 days above 95°F for Las Vegas in 2014, 95 such days in 2013, and 115 in 2012.  The southern Midwest can become hotter than Las Vegas by the end of the century (or a little later), if current emission trends continue.

     Below at right, Category II probably corresponds to green in the colored table above (THI 90-104°F), Category III to yellow (105-129°F), and Category IV to red (130°F +).

     Below, based on current emission trends (maps from Figure 3 in the report), summers in Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana grow hotter by 2100 than Texas and Arizona ones today.  Iowa and Ohio ones grow as hot as Texas ones now.  Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin summers grow almost as hot.

     At right, heat stroke days will increase dramatically by the end of the century, from none now.  Most of Missouri, Illinois and Indiana would suffer 40-60 days a year of dangerous heat: as bad (hot and humid) as anywhere in Texas.  Ohio and Iowa would see 30-50 such days a year.
    Worse, all of Illinois - and most of Missouri, Iowa, and Indiana - would experience 10-25 days a year of extremely dangerous heat: hotter (wet bulb) than anywhere in Texas.
    In fact, “On our current path, the Midwest will likely see an average of as many as 3 days per year of Category IV conditions, which have never been experienced in the U.S. to date.”

Section Map: Bio Impacts